MATRIXSYNTH

Tuesday, July 21, 2026

合成器的模拟滤波器有点儿好玩儿 | Hi-Fans

video upload by Hi-Fans

Bass on the UDO Super 8.

From Scratch: Ambient Torso S-4 Live Jam

video upload by Andre Bregegere

"Welcome to Volume 35 of my Torso S-4 exploration series.

This is a completely improvised, zero-preparation ambient performance. No planning, no pre-saved patterns—every single sonic decision was made live on the spot. To give you a deeper look into my workflow, the performance is fully annotated so you can follow along with every twist, turn, and parameter tweak.

During the jam, I dive into a few advanced Torso S-4 techniques, including:
• Modulating sample Speed in Stretch mode with Glide for shifting textures.
• Modulating the sample Start point to create infinite, jittery variations on a drum loop.
• Modulating grain rate, pitch, and contour for evolving, organic soundscapes.

Audio Note: The raw performance was captured live and then lightly mixed and mastered in Pro Tools for the best listening experience (headphones recommended!)."

🕒 TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Intro
00:24 - Building Track 01
00:43- Modulating SPEED and PITCH
01:35 - Granular (MOSAIC engine)
02:20 - Building Track 02
03:12 - Granular (MOSAIC engine)
04:37 - Building Track 03
05:14 - Modulating START (glitchy drum loop)
06:56 - Granular (MOSAIC engine)
09:29 - Building Track 04
10:08 - Modulating TEMPO
11:38 - Soloing Track 01
12:32 - Bringing back the drums
13:05 - Soloing Track 04
13:41 - Drums are back!
14:27 - Wrapping up!

"Thunder Jam" with the Perkons HD-01, Bassline DB-01, and Echolocator

video upload by Aurélien Vieira Lino

"Finally jamming with the huge (in sound and size!) Perkons HD-01from ‪@EricaSynths‬ . Love the rawness of the machine, and sound exploration super power! A perfect match to the DB-01 bassline, and a dream to jam along."

Rain Sound with TB-03 + OP-1 field + norns shield | Raindrop Fragment 2026-07-21 by atnr

video upload by atnr

"An electronica piece layering the sound of rain, piano micro loops, a deeply reverberated TB-03, and harmonies from the OP-1 field.

On the norns shield, a single-note piano melody is recorded and processed with granular synthesis using graintopia. The output is connected to the MOOD MKII, where additional micro loops are layered.

The TB-03 is processed with delay and reverb through LOST+FOUND, then further treated with deep reverb in Ableton Live.

On the OP-1 field, a 32-bar harmony is looped and processed with reverb through the blueSky. Hand-played phrases are layered during the latter half of the piece.

The bassline heard in the latter half is a recorded hand-played performance using a sound from the MOTIF-RACK ES."

Anniversary Post Update & Site Comments

Just a note for those interested, I made a few updates to my anniversary post including something I initially omitted in the first paragraph. Like I said in the post, I try not to make the site personal, but maybe knowing I made it through will help others facing similar. It's at the end of the first paragraph. I also cleaned up the post a little, but didn't make any major changes.

I also re-enabled anonymous comments as the existing log-in comments don't appear to be working for those on iOS, myself included. We'll see how it goes. Remember, this site has a no insult policy. It's hard enough to put your neck out there to only have some dimwit troll you. If you have the nerve to insult others I have the will to remove you.

Monday, July 20, 2026

Turning an OB-6 Arpeggio Into an Ambient Soundscape | Strymon BigSky

video upload by Chris Richardson

"This started with a simple pentatonic arpeggio on the Sequential OB-6 and evolved into a spacious ambient texture using the BigSky. I also tweak both the OB-6 and BigSky throughout the performance to explore how the sound develops in real time."

Vintage Synthesizer Museum synths: Elka Synthex, Yamaha CS-80, Yamaha CS70m & more!

video upload by Joseph Salazar

"These are just some clips from my first time at the Vintage Synthesizer Museum in LA. Thank you Daniela Dawson for filming some of these videos. It was my first time seeing or playing most of these rare synths, so I wasn't too familiar with how to program sounds with them, but it was still so much fun to see what sounds I got from them. Unfortunately most of the audio here is straight from an iPhone or camera mic.

If you want to know more, check out their website:
https://vintagesynthesizermuseum.com/"

Yamaha CS-5 improvisation over drones | Analogue synthesizers performance

video upload by Telantas Changxo

"This is part of a new thing I am doing where I just turn on the camera and the audio recorder and sart patching and improvising, withoutnany preparation. I hope you enjoy it -let me know im the comments."

But we are still human, can't you see? | Original analogue synthesizer composition and performance

video upload by Telantas Changxo

"Kant wrote '... that the human being and in general every rational being exists as an end in itself, not merely as a means to be used by this or that will at its discretion; instead he must in all his actions, whether directed to himself or also to other rational beings, always be regarded at the same time as an end.' (IMMANUEL KANT in 'Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals') These words acquire new meaning in the present world where social media, artificial intelligence, and automation offer new ways of organisation, manipulation, and control. Whether the aim is to achieve more efficient distribution networks, more agile organisational structures, or a more convenient election result, we increasingly see powerful individuals and organisations achieving their aims by using people as tools, not as human beings with their very own needs, desires, and intrinsic value. Meanwhile, large language models such as ChatGPT hold up a mirror to ourselves: here is a being capable of speech, reasoning, and even a sense of identity (much as they protest that they don't have one when you ask them directly). But, are they tools, or ends in themselves? And if we get used to treating them as tools, what will prevent us from ending up translating the new forms of coercion and deceit that we will develop for them to us as well?"

#philosophy #music #synthesizer #dawless #yamahacs #yamahacs5 #behringercrave #yamahasynths #yamahasynth #bossdd200

MATRIXSYNTH Turns 21

Yes, MATRIXSYNTH is now old enough to legally have a drink in the US!

Joking aside, MATRIXSYNTH in its current form started on July 20, 2005 with this post. Since then there has been only a single day without a post, which occured back on that dreadful day of August 6, 2005. I can't link to it because there isn't a post to link to. :) Sorry for the bad humor. That said, since then, I haven't missed a single day posting on the site including holidays, vacations, and two bouts of eye surgery due to a retinal tear and detachement in 2025. It was painless, but scary, and now all is good.

For those of you not in the know, MATRIXSYNTH is a one-man operation, run by your host, me, matrix. Every single post has gone up by hand - there is no automation and definitely no AI. Including this post, there have been at least 260,897 posts to date. There have actually been been more but some have been taken down due to either videos or audio dissapearing over the years, which brings me to a point: please don't remove your videos and audio demos off the web. You might think they are no longer relevant or you might even be embarrased by them as you think things have progressed and they no longer meet your standards, but they are relevant. They are part of history and will always be worth a look-back in context. Who you are today isn't defined by what you put up years ago. Trust me, I am often embarrased when I look back at some of my older posts. I'll likely be embarrased by this one. That said, please keep your old content up! It's a bit of synth history, and it's a look back at what you felt worth sharing back when you posted it. It doesn't define you today. It's like throwing away old family photographs because you are now older. That and there is always something interesting to find in older videos. A timbre from a given synth, an experience relevant in time.

That brings me to something I wanted to clarify for those that may be wondering: in general I prefer to keep myself out of posts for fear of influencing or even ruining the experience for others. I feel it is my job to present content w/o bias, and I prefer to post things as they are presented by the person or entity that created the content to begin with. Not influencing how others might or might not experience what goes up is a conscious decision. I realized over time it's akin to talking through music.

What I love about running MATRIXSYNTH is getting to share what's new to me on a daily basis. I have a policy of only posting specific content once. That means out of 260,897+ posts to date, nearly every single one is unique. It's also great to realize that there have been multiple things to actually feature every single day of the year, shared on the day itself, over the past 21 years!!! That's saying something, not about me or the site, but about the community.

The original MATRIXSYNTH actually started back in 1997. Click to see the monstrocity. That site will be 29 this year! The site was my personal portal into the world of synths. On the left were a list of sites I visited back then that would open in the right window frame when clicked on. Unfortunately that functionality is no longer supported in modern browsers; however you can right-click any link and open it in a new window. It's worth a look back at what synth sites were around back in 1997. Remember, YouTube didn't come out until December of 2005. MATRIXSYNTH in its current format, the blog, came out before YouTube. Think about that for a bit. This site has tracked the personal world of synthesis since before YouTube came out! Also, you might notice the old site came out well before The Matrix movies. The alias matrix, and hence MATRIXSYNTH, comes from my first synthesizer, the Oberheim MATRIX-6 which I purchased new in 1986 and still own to this day.

OK, this post is long enough. I want to end it by thanking the supporters of the site, the banner sponsors of the site, and most importantly, you, my readers. This might surprise some people, but I sometimes feel irrelevant, like why am I even doing this? I then remind myself I do it for the sake of doing it. I want to capture a bit of what's out there on a daily basis. I want the site to be a log (a weblog - blog) of synth history. I started back in 2005, and ever since that day I've had something to post, except for that solemn day on August 6, 2005. (P.S. I went on vacation that day and didn't think there would be internet access, let alone that I would be posting every single day after that - imagine not being able to say "I never missed a single day!" for the rest of your life because of one single day! "If it wasn't for that day!..") I think I will be doing this until the day I'm no longer here, and although I know I would be doing this regardless of whether I had an audience or not, knowing I do have an audience makes a world of difference. And thank you to all of you out there sharing your synth content. You are creating SYNTH HISTORY!!!

P.S. I want to give a special shout out to Amanda of CATSYNTH who not only is a supporting member of the site, but was kind enough to remember my anniversary and reach out to me today. Thank you!

P.P.S. It was CATSYNTH's 20th Anniversary yesterday. Happy Anniversary CATSYNTH! :)